Soviet Satellites - Kazakhstan

07 Jun 2016 . category: Travel . Comments
#Soviet

Intro

First of the Stans we were visiting, Kazakhstan is Central Asia’s largest country, and should be known for much more than just Borat. Unfortunately, that hasn’t always been the case. This is also where our guided tour through Steppe Journeys began.

We flew from Kiev to Almaty, Kazakhstan, arriving at 1AM Kiev time or 4AM Almaty time. Not sure why Ukraine Air has such weird flight schedules… After a brief mix-up at the airport, we found our guide Zakir and driver Slava, and went to our hotel for a quick nap before sightseeing!

Sights

First up was the Medeu Ice Rink, a huge rink that’s part of a larger winter sports complex outside of Almaty. It was used in 2011 to host the Winter Asian Games, and also would have been used for the 2022 Winter Olympics had Almaty’s bid won out over Beijing’s. We also (somewhat foolishly) decided to hike up this steep structure behind the rink that was built to stop mudslides. The view from the top was beautiful though!

I also discovered here that our driver had been given a Burton sticker by some traveler, yay Vermont!

Next was Kok-tobe, a recreation area atop another hill close to the city, accessible by cable car. The top had everything: kids rides, petting zoo, climbing wall, etc. It apparently also has the only statue in the world of all four Beatles, built recently due to local fans:

While on the cable car, we were able to glimpse some villas pointed out by our guide Zakir. As in many other countries, the influx of natural resource wealth has created a new upper class eager to display their status. Indeed, I saw a ridiculous number of Bentleys and Mercedes S-classes while in Almaty…

It was at the Central State Museum that I began to grasp the incredibly complex history of this region. Due to its location on the Silk Road and general centrality in Eurasia, it has been settled by a huge variety of peoples and religions, including Russians, Persians, Mongols, and Macedonians. This history can still be seen while walking around today, with what I perceived to be a wide variety of appearances, from folks who I swore were Chinese to people with very European features. The story of religion is similar. At various times, Paganism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam have all been practiced in the region. The last is currently the most prevalent, though apparently the region is known for a more relaxed practice. We saw very few women with hijabs, and all the restaurants we frequented seemed quite popular despite it being Ramadan. Though, our guide did mention that fewer and fewer people in the area drink now, possibly due to a recent surge of Muslim practice.

Finally, we wandered around a National Mall-esque area in the city center, with statues honoring national heros as well as important contemporary buildings. Highlights included the Ascension Cathedral which was constructed entirely out of wood (even the nails):

Though we would return to fly out of Almaty, this was our last and only day really doing anything in Kazakhstan. Up next: Kyrgyzstan!

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